Contents

Background

The engineering core is the third area that the player encounters aboard the Mothership, and serves as a hub between numerous other locations aboard the ship, including the steamworks, hangar, cryo lab, robot assembly, cargo hold, maintenance level and engine room. Here, the player can also find several other captives who will assist the player aboard the ship. As the player progresses through the Mothership Zeta quest, the Engineering Core changes. Defenses are put up and barricades are made by the other captives; eventually a broken Nuka-Cola vending machine will show up; a teleporter to the Bridge appears near the steamworks entrance, down a corridor to the left of the Nuka-Cola machine; and a terrified alien will appear and plead for its life, only to be shot by Paulson.

The Engineering Core is one of the few rooms still available to explore after This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough... quest is complete, as most other rooms beyond it will become inaccessible. At this point, aliens will also begin to spawn occasionally in the room.

Layout

Power Core

The central power for Mothership Zeta is at the center of the map. The lower level surrounding the core has limited areas of interest.

Lower Observation Deck

The lower level is far smaller than the top level. It has a small room the Toshiro Kago sits most of them with a large window that displays the reaches of space. There is a table opposite Kago and a foot locker near that. Across the from the windows is a hallway that has some garbage in the middle of it. Through this hallway, you reach the main part of the lower floor. This has a main energy pillar in the middle of it, surrounded by capacitors. Also on this floor underneath the stairs is a bed for the player to sleep on.

Upper Observation Deck

In Kago's room is a staircase that leads up the second level. This staircase opens to a room with random junk strewn about on tables, beds and the floor. Going through a door on your right will take you to the main area with the energy pillar from the first level. This is the area where most of the captives roam. Going straight, you will head into the cryo research area, going to the right will let you into the maintenance level, robot assembly, or the engine rooms and going to the left will take you to the hangar of cargo hold.

2 Nuka-Cola Quantums appear in a crate with a Nuka-Cola next to a generator and rusty tricycle after exploring all of the rooms branching from the Engineering Core and destroying the generators.

1 mini nuke appears in the chair next to the workbench in the room that leads to the Decompression Chamber after exploring all of the rooms branching from the Engineering Core and destroying the generators.

1 Nuka-grenade in a bucket, on the right side of a control panel, in the room leading towards the decompressing chamber.

Notes

Engineering core is an excellent place to store items worth keeping but that the player doesn't wish to always have in inventory, and is much safer than using abandoned houses in the Wasteland. Aliens do not steal items, so leaving unique weapons in cases or even on shelves comes with no risk of thievery. It has more than one bed and an alien workbench. This is useful after the This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough... quest is complete and the player is given control of (parts of) the ship. The ship is simply an alternative and only for aesthetic purposes.

Loot in the Engineering Core appears in stages, depending on how many generators the player has destroyed and how many side areas have been visited. Especially notable are the Buttercup toys, which only start to appear after two or more generators have been destroyed.

Some safe places to store loot in are:

In the room with a makeshift bed. The footlocker on the far right when looking into space is a safe place to store items.

The toolbox next to the alien workbench is safe.

The alien container on the bottom floor of engineering furthest from the npcs. It is too far away for them to steal from during Among the Stars and a break in the upper level railing allows one to quickly drop down on top of it while unable to jump (encumbered).

As you walk up the stairs above the bedding if you look down when you reach the top you can see a miniature drone holding a teddy bear.

If you have the Child at Heart perk, talk to Sally immediately after thawing the cryotubes and you will get the option to ask Sally if she has "any good stuff hidden away". She will give you access to room near the teleporter to the bridge, which contains three containers full of non-unique alien items but is normally blocked by an energy barrier. This is also a great place to store things if you're becoming over encumbered, so that you can collect as much alien gear as you want. Note, however, that if you talk to Sally again while she's leading you to the room, she will stop and talk to you and won't open the room; the dialogue option will also no longer be available, effectively causing everything in that room to be lost to you.

Sitting on a box at the top of the stairs is a teddy bear holding a beer and wearing brass knuckles.

Sally can sometimes be seen drinking beer in the area above the makeshift bed.

Appearances

Bugs

ps3xbox360 The teleporters on this deck may stop working, while displaying the appearance of a fully active teleporter; attempts to activate them only result on a no interaction tone. This can be a fatal game glitch permanently trapping the player on the ship. as a precaution one should save on the bridge before returning to the engineering core.